Valley Christian Center connects church to the city with SageGlass

Jan. 20, 2015

The Valley Christian Center (VCC) in Dublin, California, is using electronically tintable SageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, to keep its congregation comfortable and connected to the city it overlooks.

Valley Christian is an Assembly of God church organization perched atop a hill with 360-degree views of the San Francisco Bay area. The 48-acre campus is home to a pre-school and K-12 classrooms, library, media lab, athletic facilities, and sanctuary for worship and performances.

VCC recently installed a 700-square-foot wall of SageGlass in its new sanctuary and performing arts center to preserve the views as part of the spiritual aesthetic of the building. The church wanted to create a worship and performance space that is open and connected to the outdoors, however its orientation created significant sun control challenges, according to Architect Jim Goring of Goring & Straja Architects.

“Valley Christian did not want to create another typical ‘black box’ worship space cut off from the outside world. But the building faced due-east, which would have created significant sun glare and heat gain problems in the mornings,” he said.

Goring and the VCC building committee evaluated a variety of sun control solutions, including mechanical blinds and shades, but all other solutions would have negated the design objectives of an open worship space.

“Our vision for the project was that God builds churches to reach cities,” said Dr. Roger Valci, Lead Pastor at Valley Christian Center. “That’s why we wanted a wall of windows overlooking the Valley—to keep our congregation connected to the city we serve and to God’s people that we want to reach. SageGlass turned out to be the most elegant solution. ”

SageGlass is electronically tintable dynamic glass that darkens or clears automatically in response to the sun’s movements throughout the day while preserving the outdoor views.

The sanctuary also serves as a performing arts center. Consequently, the ability to darken the room on demand while preserving the view was another advantage for using electrochromic glass. With the press of a button, SageGlass can be tinted down to just one percent of visible light transmission to create a space conducive to watching videos and stage performances.

About SageGlassSageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, is advanced dynamic glass that can be electronically tinted or cleared to optimize daylight and improve the human experience in buildings. SageGlass manages the sunlight and heat that enter a building, significantly reducing energy consumption while improving people’s comfort and well-being. It can reduce a building’s cooling load by 20% and HVAC requirements up to 30%. It is a smarter, more elegant solution than conventional sun controls such as mechanical window shades, blinds and louvers. With SageGlass you can control sunlight and glare without shades or blinds while maintaining the view and connection to the outdoors. SageGlass is manufactured in Faribault, Minn., in the heart of “the Silicon Valley of the window industry,” and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of Paris, the world’s largest building materials company.

About Saint-Gobain in North AmericaSaint-Gobain has its North American headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. As the world leader in sustainable habitat, Saint-Gobain is committed to inventing solutions to help professionals and communities around the world build and renovate comfortable, healthy, economical and energy-efficient buildings. The company has more than 250 locations in North America and approximately 15,000 employees. In the United States and Canada, Saint-Gobain reported sales of approximately $6.2 billion in 2014.

Recognized as a 2009 and 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Saint-Gobain earned the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. For more information about Saint-Gobain in North America, visit www.saint-gobain-northamerica.com and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

About Saint-GobainIn 2015, Saint-Gobain is celebrating its 350th anniversary, 350 reasons to believe in the future. Backed by its experience and its capacity to continuously innovate, Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction market, designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance and building materials providing innovative solutions to the challenges of growth, energy efficiency and environmental protection. With 2014 sales of $54.6 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 64 countries and has over 180,000 employees. For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit https://www.saint-gobain.com/en and the twitter account @saintgobain

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Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change.